Why the next big political battle will be between the far-right and the rest

July 2014; and in the midst of a UK general election campaign notable for its lack of interest in international affairs, at least one social media pundit takes time out to contemplate the current political situation in France. It is “funny”, he or she says, to watch French centrists scrabbling to form an alliance, against a far-right surge which they themselves did so much to create. And like so much left-wing commentary on the politics of the centre, the brief message drips with contempt and hatred; very similar in tone to the bitter scorn with which mainstream Labour supporters, now backing Keir Starmer, tend to address those who support Labour exile and independent candidate Jeremy Corbyn, or other former Labour candidates now opposing the party across England.

It’s a bitter left-centre divide, of course, that is not unique to British politics. In the United States, those who see Joe Biden as a war criminal because of his policy on Gaza damn him with a contempt they never bother to lavish on Donald Trump, a blatant American proto-fascist now cruising towards a second White House term. In France, the left – itself deeply divided – detests super-centrist Emmanuel Macron with a visceral hatred that must have made for some dramatic scenes during this week’s negotiations about who, in each constituency, should be the sole candidate to represent the centre and left, against Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally – although in fact, an impressive 218 candidates from both sides have now stood down, to enable a united front.

And the whole scene, one feels, would have seemed ominously familiar to mid-20th century writers such as George Orwell, who observed – and to some extent took part in – similar chaos on the centre and left in the years before the Second World War. The lesson of that history should be obvious: that where a rising tide of fascism is in plain sight, petty feuding and point-scoring between the left and the centre becomes a luxury we can no longer afford. Between 1936, the start of the Spanish Civil War, and 1942, after all, millions died before the world finally organised the alliance that would defeat Hitler.

A protest against the National Rally party in France, where attempts are being made to form a united front against the far-right (Picture: Laure Boyer/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)

Left-wing flirtation with Putin and Xi

With luck and good guidance, though, we might still be able to avoid a similar terrible end to the current Western flirtation with fascism; but only if a few difficult conditions are met – difficult, because they involve taking a nuanced view of the Western system within which we live, and avoiding the crass and disempowering polarisation that characterises so much 21st-century political debate.

In the first place, the successes need to be recognised. There is no time, now, for the kind of leftism that mirrors the far-right by flirting with the Putin regime in Russia or the Xi regime in China, simply because they oppose American imperialism. Both are horrifying dictators, who subject their own citizens to levels of fear and control most of us in the West can barely imagine. They murder their political opponents, allow little in the way of free media, and increasingly seek to bind their countries together by feeding nationalistic fantasies, threatening expansionist moves, and – in Ukraine – brutally invading a peaceful neighbour whose sovereignty was recognised a generation ago.

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On the other hand, there is no question that centrist politicians who have flirted too long with a discredited neoliberal economic orthodoxy have indeed done a great deal to create the social and economic conditions that have left millions feeling left behind, bereft of economic hope, and vulnerable to far-right propaganda.

A social democratic alternative

Essentially, the wave of anti-state neoliberalism that swept the West in the 1980s has proved to be based on flawed propositions, including a failure to acknowledge that economic success in advanced 21st-century societies depends on a widespread strong consumer base – rather than a sickly, stressed-out, impoverished and debt-laden population – and on well-funded and sophisticated public services. Those centrist parties that have visibly colluded with that neoliberal orthodoxy, and failed to offer voters a clearly articulated social-democratic alternative, including both Labour and the Liberal Democrats here in the UK, therefore do bear a heavy responsibility for the plight in which Western politics now finds itself.

The third essential condition, though, lies in the effort to learn lessons from that recent past, without constantly being distracted by old battles. The defeat of 21st-century fascism will require everyone interested in a democratic future – in basic human rights, freedoms for all, and accountable government – to focus absolutely on the task of defeating those who reject those values. That strict focus will demand shifts from both the left and the centre; an end to blanket anti-Western rhetoric on one hand, and on the other, a determined shift towards a new politics of social justice and environmental and human well-being, that will begin to heal the economic and social wounds of recent decades.

Lessons of Brexit disaster

The question of who will be best placed to lead that shift remains open. The US cannot do it if it does not comprehensively defeat Donald Trump this November. Keir Starmer cannot do it if he remains as cautious as his election campaign suggests; the UK now needs to learn the lessons of its disastrous Brexit journey, not to declare the subject closed. Emmanuel Macron has at least brought the centre and left together in a prototype of the kind of negotiation that will be necessary; although possibly at a high political price.

At least, though, the task at hand is now clear. Basic democratic values must be defended, citizens must be cared for by their governments, and fascism – with its simplistic and divisive snake-oil solutions to complex problems – must be confronted and defeated. And whatever strange or uncomfortable alliances are necessary to win that victory must be built and sustained, to avoid a drift towards authoritarianism and tyranny on a scale the world has not had to contemplate, for more than 80 years.